Cleaning and sterilizing machine

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a cleaning and sterilizing machine for small articles such as closure elements for pharmaceutical containers consisting of a treatment tank ( 1 ) which is supported by a horizontal shaft ( 3 ) in a carrier ( 2 ) and is mounted so it can rotate about the axis of the shaft ( 3 ) and has a funnel-shaped upper part ( 6 ) with a loading and unloading opening ( 8 ) arranged in it, said treatment tank being closeable by a valve ( 7 ) and having inlet and outlet lines ( 13, 14 ) for at least one treatment medium such as water, steam or compressed air connected to it and supported by the shaft ( 3 ). To prevent reloading of the cleaned small articles into a container so that the articles from the treatment tank ( 1 ) can be processed further, it is provided according to this invention that the shaft ( 3 ) has a supporting device ( 4 ) in which the treatment tank ( 1 ) is held detachably, and the inlet and outlet lines ( 13, 14 ) are detachably connected by couplings ( 10, 11 ) to valves ( 9, 10 ) arranged on the treatment tank ( 1 ). In this way the treatment tank itself can be transported to the machine for further processing, and the articles can be fed directly from it to this machine.

This invention relates to a cleaning and sterilizing machine for smallarticles such as the closure elements for pharmaceutical containers,said machine consisting of a treatment tank which is supported by ahorizontal shaft in a carrier and is mounted so that it can pivot aboutthe axis of the shaft, and which has a funnel-shaped top part with aloading and unloading opening which can be closed by a valve and isarranged in said top part and is connected to the inlet and outlet linessupported by the shaft for at least one treatment medium such as water,steam or compressed air.

In the production of pharmaceutical products, extremely high demands aremade regarding the purity of the parts of the packaging such as therubber stoppers. Simply washing the articles, e.g., in a rotary washingmachine, and then drying the articles and sterilizing them, fails by farto meet these requirements. To more closely meet the requirements,special equipment has been developed for washing, sterilization anddrying. Because of the risk of contamination, the loading and unloadingdevices, by means of which the articles to be cleaned are loaded intothe machine and the cleaned articles are removed from the machine, areespecially important.

European Patent 0 418,450 describes a cleaning and sterilizing machineof the abovementioned type in which the treatment tank is detachably,tightly and supportably connected through the loading and unloadingopenings to a container which holds the articles to be treated. Afterthe treatment tank is pivoted 180 degrees, the articles to be treatedfall out of the container and into the treatment tank beneath thecontainer, where they are cleaned and sterilized together with theinterior space of the connected container. By pivoting the treatmenttank again, the cleaned articles are conveyed back into the container,which is uncoupled from the treatment tank after being hermeticallysealed. Although this cleaning and sterilizing machine has the advantagethat it need not be accommodated in a sterile compartment, it has thedisadvantage of a great overall height, which is necessary to permitpivoting of the treatment tank connected to the container. Furthermore,another disadvantage is the need to transfer the sterile articles fromthe treatment tank to the container downstream from the cleaning andsterilization operation.

Furthermore, a cleaning and sterilizing machine with a comparatively lowoverall height is known from an unpublished state of the art documentwhere the treatment tank is detachably but not rotatably mounted on asupporting device secured on a machine housing. In the upper area, thetreatment tank has a loading opening that can be closed by a flap valvefor the articles to be treated, and in the lower area it has anunloading opening that can be closed by a flap valve for the articles tobe treated. Inlet and outlet lines for treatment media such as water,steam, etc. are provided in stationary mounts on the machine housing andare connected to the treatment tank by couplings. A basket designed as ascreen that serves to hold the articles to be cleaned is arranged in thetreatment tank. This basket has a funnel-shaped part so that it can bebrought into correspondence with the loading or unloading opening byturning it in order to load or unload the articles to be treated intoand out of the treatment tank. After the treatment is completed, thetreatment tank, which has been hermetically sealed from the outside, isremoved from the supporting device of the machine housing and can betransported at such to the site of use of the articles, e.g., to apharmaceutical drug bottling installation. However, one disadvantage ofthe known cleaning and sterilizing machine is its complicated designwith the rotating basket arranged in the interior of the treatment tankand with two separate loading and unloading openings.

The object of this invention is to create a cleaning and sterilizingmachine that will require only a comparatively small overall height andis characterized by a simple and inexpensive design.

This object is achieved with a cleaning and sterilizing machine of thetype defined in the preamble by the fact that the shaft has a supportingdevice in which the treatment tank is held detachably, and the inlet andoutlet lines are connected detachably by couplings to valves arranged onthe treatment tank.

Due to the fact that the treatment tank which is filled with articles tobe cleaned can be hermetically sealed from the outside after thetreatment and can be separated from the other components of the cleaningand sterilizing machine, this eliminates the complicated operations ofloading and unloading the cleaning and sterilizing machine, which areassociated with possible contamination of the articles to be cleaned aswell as the machine itself. The great overall height of the knowncleaning and sterilizing machines due to the loading and unloadingoperations is thus avoided. The treatment tank can be filled with thearticles to be cleaned at any desired location in a non-sterileenvironment and can be conveyed directly to the site of use of thearticles in a hermetically sealed and sterile state after cleaning. Thetreatment tank is characterized by a simple design. Because of theabsence of moving parts, it is not subject to much wear. The loadingopening also serves simultaneously as an unloading opening. The rotatingbasket in the interior of the treatment tank known in the state of theart is not necessary.

This invention is explained in greater detail below on the basis ofschematic diagrams in the drawings, which illustrate one embodiment andshow the following in particular:

FIG. 1: the cleaning and sterilizing machine, shown in a side view;

FIG. 2: a part of the machine illustrated in FIG. 1 in a side view witha treatment tank rotated by 180 degrees after the cleaning andsterilizing operation;

FIG. 3: a side view of the treatment tank from FIG. 2 which is mountedon a vehicle with a supporting frame but has been disconnected from thesupporting device and the inlet and outlet lines of the cleaning andsterilizing machine.

The cleaning and sterilizing machine, which is set up in anon-sterilized environment, includes a treatment tank 1 and a horizontalshaft 3 which is mounted so that it can pivot in a machine housing 2with the treatment tank 1 mounted on it. The horizontal shaft 3 has afork 4. Tubular rails 5 are provided on the sides of treatment tank 1,so that the prongs of the fork 4, which is mounted on the shaft 3, canbe inserted into these rails and locked there.

Treatment tank 1 has a funnel-shaped top part 6 with a loading andunloading opening 8 which can be closed by a pivotable flap valve 7. Anopening 10 that can be closed by a valve 9 is provided on the bottomside of the treatment tank 1.

The loading and unloading opening 8 on the top side of the treatmenttank 1 and the opening 10 on the bottom side of the treatment tank 1 areeach provided on the side of a coupling 11, 12 facing away from thecontainer. Inlet and outlet lines 13, 14 for water, steam and compressedair as treatment media coming from the media connections in the machinehousing 2 can be connected tightly and in a self-supporting manner atthe corresponding coupling parts of the treatment tank 1.

The articles to be treated are arranged on an extremely fine screen(pulsator) 15 which is positioned horizontally in a stationary mountbetween the two openings 8, 10 and extends over the entire cross sectionof the treatment tank 1, and this screen is placed in the treatment tank1 which is in the treatment position according to FIG. 1.

The articles to be cleaned are loaded from a container 16 having apneumatic system through inlet line 17 into the treatment tank 1.

The treatment is performed in a known way using water, steam or hot airplus optionally detergents and/or a silicone dispersion. Since thetreatment, including the special guidance of the treatment media in thetreatment tank 1 for the purpose of a thorough and gentle treatment ofthe articles is already known, it will be mentioned only briefly below.

FIG. 1 shows the cleaning and sterilizing machine immediately afterinsertion of the treatment tank 1 filled with the articles to be treatedinto the supporting device 4 of the horizontal shaft 3. The inlet andoutlet lines 13, 14 are connected to the treatment tank 1 by means ofthe respective couplings 11, 12. The valves 7, 9, which remain closeduntil then, are opened for the treatment. Hot water and superheatedsteam are introduced in alternation through lines 13 and 14, thuscleaning the articles in a fluidized bed of steam.

After cleaning with hot water and superheated steam, the articles aresiliconized with a dispersion in the fluidized bed at approximately 100°C. After the siliconization treatment is concluded, the siliconedispersion is forced downward with compressed air, which is suppliedthrough line 13, and it is removed through the lower line 14.

After the siliconization treatment, ultrahigh purity steam is firstsupplied to the treatment tank 1 through the upper line 13 forsterilizing the articles, and then the steam is removed through thelower line 14 so that the flow of steam comes in contact with all thearticles.

Then the articles are dried by introducing the sterile, filtered andheated compressed air into the treatment tank 1 through the upper line13 and removing it by vacuum through the lower line 14 so that thestream of air comes in contact with all the articles.

To ensure that all the articles in the treatment tank 1 are uniformlytreated by the treatment media, it is advantageous for the treatmenttank 1 to be moved back and forth slowly during or between theindividual treatment phases by rotating the horizontal shaft 3. Thismotion results in a thorough mixing of the articles.

After the treatment, the treatment tank is rotated 180 degrees, asillustrated in FIG. 2, while the valves 7, 9 are closed, the lines 13,14 are uncoupled and the treatment tank 1 is removed from the fork 1mounted on the shaft 3 with the help of a transport vehicle asillustrated in FIG. 3. The cleaned and sterilized articles are thenhermetically sealed in the treatment tank 1, which is in turn in anon-sterilized environment. This tank can then be transported to thesite of use of the articles, e.g., to a pharmaceutical drug bottlinginstallation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cleaning and sterilizing machine for smallarticles, said machine comprising treatment tank which is supported by ahorizontal shaft in a carrier and is mounted so that it can pivot aboutthe axis of the shaft and which has a funnel-shaped upper part with aloading and unloading opening arranged in it such that it can be closedby a valve, and inlet and outlet lines for at least one treatment mediumwhich are connected to the treatment tank and are supported by theshaft, wherein the shaft has a supporting device in which the treatmenttank is held detachably and which permits pivoting about the axis of theshaft, and wherein the inlet and outlet lines are detachably connectedby couplings to valves which are arranged on the treatment tank.
 2. Acleaning and sterilizing machine according to claim 1, wherein the shafthas a fork as the supporting device in which the treatment tank issuspended.
 3. A cleaning and sterilizing machine according to claim 1,wherein the treatment tank has lateral receptacles into which the prongsof the fork are inserted.
 4. A cleaning and sterilizing machineaccording to claim 1, wherein the valve of the loading and unloadingopening is arranged at the mouth of the funnel of the upper part.
 5. Acleaning and sterilizing machine according to claim 1, wherein the smallarticles are closure elements for pharmaceutical containers.
 6. Acleaning and sterilizing machine according to claim 1, wherein thetreatment medium is water, steam, or compressed air.